Stepladders and creepers are well known devices. Conventionally, these devices are separate entities and are employed separately. This of course requires separate purchases. Furthermore, each device occupies its own storage space.
As will be seen below, the apparatus of the present invention incorporates platform portions hingedly interconnected to provide either a stepladder configuration or a creeper configuration. A search of the prior art located no such arrangement. There are, however, patents which show the general concept of folding creepers per se; namely, U.S. Pat. No. 6,095,532, issued Aug. 1, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,489, issued Sep. 7, 1999, U.S. Pat. No. 6,059,298, issued May 9, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,352, issued Dec. 26, 1989, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,611,417, issued Sep. 23, 1952.
The search also located U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,955, issued Dec. 7, 1991, relating to a mechanic's helper (not a creeper) and step platform, U.S. Pat. No. 6,105,719, issued Aug. 22, 2000, directed to a user-configurable mechanic's stool, and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US2002/0125662, published Sep. 12, 2002. Articulated ladders enabling the ladders to fold and assume different configurations are also known; however, such prior art articulated ladders are not convertible into creepers.
In summary, there is no teaching or suggestion in the prior art, whether taken alone or in combination, of the apparatus disclosed and claimed herein for supporting an individual and selectively alternatively employable as either a creeper or a stepladder.